


Jump

by JCapasso



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:00:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24822010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCapasso/pseuds/JCapasso
Summary: Elena realizes how much she's hurting Damon by clinging so hard to Stefan so she decides to explain and just hope that he understands and doesn't push for things that she can't let herself give him yet.Starts from 3x06
Relationships: Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

Elena was lifting weights when Damon came in. “What? Are you going to bench press a vampire?” he asked amusedly. 

“Do you actually know what's happening right now? Stefan called me a human blood bag. He's a completely different person,” Elena said irritated, and she only got more so when Damon came over and pushed down on the bar she was trying to push up. “What are you doing?” she grunted with effort. 

“Helping you out,” Damon teased.

“Damon!” she scolded.

“Come on, Buffy!” he chuckled.

“Stop it!” She couldn’t hold it anymore and let her arms fall to her sides, knowing that Damon would stop it from hurting her. It wasn’t until after she did it that she realized just how much she trusted Damon. “Like one obnoxious Salvatore isn't bad enough,” she muttered as she sat up. 

“You called. I'm here,” he quipped as he picked up one of the stakes off the table to play with.   
“What's your plan, oh warrior princess?”

“I want to lock Stefan up, at least until this Mikael guy comes, kills Klaus, and the compulsion breaks,” she laid it out for him. 

Damon sighed. “Compulsion or not, Stefan's high on human blood, Okay? A lot of it.”

“You've gotten him off of it before,” Elena argued. 

“This is different. It's not a stint in rehab, Elena. His humanity's gone. Light's out. No one's home,” he pointed out in frustration. 

“Then do it for me, Damon,” she told him, noticing the look on his face as all argument from him stopped. She suddenly felt bad for even asking him like that and felt the need to explain. “Every single time I look at him, I feel like I'm going to break. And I'm not going to give him that satisfaction.” She realized that she might have just gone too far…asked him for too much. She knew how he felt about her and knew what he thought the reasons were. She just didn’t think she could correct him. When she turned to walk away, he caught her hand and placed it flat on his chest, rubbing it with his own. “What are you doing?” she asked nervously. 

The moment her hand was on his chest, Damon felt himself bowled over by the feelings that he always worked so hard to keep locked away. Especially now. It wasn’t until she asked him the question that he pulled himself from them. “Feel that? It's a sternum. Solid plate of bone,” he said in almost a whisper before spinning her around so that her back was against his chest. He slid his fingers to her back, breathless at the feel of her skin and her proximity and he couldn’t help but lean his cheek against hers as he explained, “Right here, just below the ribcage, next to the spine, that's your way to a vampire's heart.”

Elena felt like all the breath was sucked from her body as she struggled not to lose herself in the moment. She couldn’t let herself go there. Not now. Not like this. His warm breath on her cheek was working against her though and it only got worse as he pulled back a little more, breath ghosting over her ear as he whispered, “I'll do whatever it is you need me to do, Elena.” She fought the urge to protest as he removed his hand from her back and loosened his grip on her arm, so she stepped away, intentionally allowing his lips to brush over her ear as she did. That didn’t help her predicament much though because she quickly got lost in his eyes as he promised, “No one going to hurt you. Especially not my brother.”

Elena could see the pain lurking behind his eyes as he vowed to do anything to get her back into his brother’s arms. Putting aside his own feelings, yet again, just to give her whatever chance at happiness he could, and she couldn’t do this anymore. She couldn’t keep hurting him. That didn’t mean that she could let this happen. Maybe he would understand. She moved her hand back to his chest, in the same position that it was before, almost like she was trying to memorize the lesson, but her words belied that. “I need you to know, Damon…it’s not for me.”

“What do you mean?” Damon asked curiously, still not taking his voice above a whisper, too afraid that it would break this moment. If this was all he could get, he was going to drink it in as much as possible. 

“Stefan doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. You deserve to have your brother back. I can’t stand seeing you both hurting so much. It’s not for me,” she said softly, not looking away from his eyes for more than flicker. She could see the spark of hope creep into them even as she could see him fighting it.

“What are you saying, Elena?” he whispered desperately, not daring to allow the hope he felt to flourish. 

She knew that she couldn’t just come out and say it. But she could explain why she couldn’t and hope he understood. “Please understand, Damon…if him having hope for us can help bring him back…I can’t take that away. Not yet. I can’t…”

Damon felt his hope soar even as he felt like a monster for it. His brother was going through one of the worst experiences possible and Damon was here stealing his girl. He couldn’t fight it though. He brought his hand up over hers, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand, as they both breathed heavily, overcome by the emotion in the air. “I do understand, Elena. But can I ask…when did things change?” He was carefully avoiding spelling anything out and knew that she would pick up on that and hopefully answer the same way. 

“My birthday,” she said with a smile. “I was about two seconds from locking myself in the room and never coming out and then…there you were…and suddenly everything was okay. I could breathe again, and I…” she cut herself off before she broke the unspoken rule of being vague. 

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “You don’t have to say it. I know.” He reached his free hand to her cheek and leaned forward, pressing a soft lingering kiss to her forehead. “It’s not our time yet, but when it is…I’ll be here, Elena.” 

She felt the tears welling up in her eyes as she nodded. She reached her hand up to cover the one on her cheek, leaning into it for a moment before she pulled away, breaking the moment. “So we lock him up,” she said at a normal volume, trying to catch her breath and push away everything that she wasn’t ready to feel yet. 

“Yeah. We do,” he agreed breathlessly, swallowing heavily around the lump in his throat. Despite the fact that part of him thought it might be kinder to leave him be rather than face what he would once he was back, he knew that Elena was right. He didn’t deserve this, and every day he spent like this was that much more guilt that would pile on once he was back. There wasn’t a good answer here. There was no solution that would make everything okay. But having his humanity was always going to be better than not. No matter what came after. 

Once the plan was made, none of them were completely sure of it, but it was the best they had. Elena hadn’t realized how hard it would hit her when Damon was all flirty with Rebekah though. Unfortunately Stefan noticed. “What’s that look?” he asked amusedly as he came up behind her. 

“What look?” Elena asked wearily. 

“Well my brothers got his flirt on and…you’re jealous,” Stefan said with a smirk. 

“I’m not jealous,” Elena lied, still unable to take her eyes off them. 

“It’s alright. Be jealous. By all means,” Stefan told her, amusement heavy in his voice. “I’m sure Damon will be thrilled. 

“I’m not jealous, Stefan,” she snapped irritably, pulling herself from the scene to look at him, remembering to play up being drunk. 

“Right. My mistake,” Stefan resisted the urge to laugh.

“Whatever. I’m out of here,” Elena said angrily. It was time to put the next part of the plan in motion. Otherwise she would end up roasting blondie along with her precious marshmallows. It didn’t even end up being worth it because they failed anyway. Thanks to interfering ghosts, they lost their chance to lock Stefan up and they headed back to the Salvatore house to regroup and heal up. 

That was how Elena found herself in Damon’s bedroom with him coming at her with the burn cream. “Give it to me. I can do it,” she said, trying not to get in any deeper right now. 

“No, let me…”

“Damon, come on,” she argued. 

Damon jerked the cream out of her reach. “Elena! You almost got barbecued. The least I can do is apply first aid,” he told her, reaching out to do just that. If this was the closest he could get right now, he wasn’t going to give any of it up. 

“You played your part of the plan really well tonight,” Elena said trying not to get lost in him yet again. 

“Oh, yeah?” Damon asked with a smile. 

“You had Rebekah drooling all over you and your marshmallows,” Elena said, trying to keep the jealousy out of her voice, but not quite succeeding. 

“Yeah, before she skewered me,” Damon said wryly before his brain caught up with her tone. “I thought you were too drunk to notice,” he said, lips twitching in a smile as he caught her eyes. 

“I was faking most of it,” Elena admitted, looking away. 

“So was I,” Damon almost whispered before their eyes met again, but the moment was broken by Ric before anything else could be said.


	2. Chapter 2

On the way out, Ric and Elena ran into Stefan. When Stefan started talking about how much she needed him, Elena tried to walk away, but he called her back. “Elena, wait. You could have let me die in that fire tonight. Why didn't you?”

“Because I still have hope,” she told him honestly. 

“After everything I've done, you...You still think I'll be able to find my humanity again?”

“Yes, I do. I know who you really are better than anyone, Stefan. And I'm not giving up,” she said as she moved close to him and caught his eyes. 

“Elena, do you have any idea how pathetic that makes you?” Stefan whispered cruelly. 

“No, Stefan, it makes me strong,” she sneered before punching him in the stomach and embedding two stakes there. She pulled up her sleeve and removed the wrist holster, shoving it at Ric with a sense of satisfaction, and walking out. 

Thankfully they managed to get lucky…or unlucky in a lot of ways, but one good thing did come from the ghost invasion. Lexi came back, helped get Stefan locked up, and taught Elena how to bring him back. Elena just hoped she got enough of a lesson before the issue was fixed and Lexi, along with the rest of the ghosts, disappeared. She sighed heavily when she was left alone with Stefan. “So what are you going to do, Elena? You just going to stand there? Waiting for me to dry out?” Stefan asked softly. 

“No, I'm going to go home…take care of my brother…Be a friend to Bonnie and everything else that I have to do,” Elena said wearily as she turned to walk out. 

“That's good for you,” Stefan praised. “You know, I was wondering when you were going to give up. Lexi give you enough of a glimpse into your tragic future?”

Elena stopped and turned back. “I haven't given up, Stefan. I still have hope,” she said gently walking over to him. “But there's nothing that I can do until you get yours back,” she whispered, reaching her hands to his face. When he tried to look away, she said, “Hey. You can break through this. Fight for it. Feel something. Anything, Stefan. Because if you don't, you're going to lose me forever. I won't love a ghost for the rest of my life.” She turned and walked out, feeling like as much of a monster as he was forced to be right now. Giving him that hope when there wasn’t any there was killing her, but she would never be able to live with herself if that could have made a difference and she’d just walked away. 

When she learned what everyone else was doing with the ghosts that invaded, particularly Damon, she was awed. Here was the story of the entire original family carved in a rock from more than a thousand years ago. Once they figured that part out, Elena set herself the task of getting the real story from Rebekah. When she learned what Damon was up to while she was doing that, she was pissed. At least at first. But then she thought better of it and decided to let it go. Give him a chance to get through to Stefan. She owed him that chance and knew that he wouldn’t waste it. 

She was on her way to bed when she jumped at the sight of him laying there waiting for her. “Damon! Seriously?”

“We got Mikael,” Damon smirked, hands behind his head, stretched out in her bed. 

“What? How?” Elena asked in shock, pointedly ignoring the fact that he was in her bed, and especially how right it looked…and felt. 

“No idea. I guess Katherine came through. Plan's in motion. See, I told you I had it,” he grinned. When she didn’t say anything he assumed she was mad about him letting Stefan out. “Go ahead. Kick, yell, scream. Sure you've been planning your rant all day.”

“I'm not gonna yell at you,” she sighed, heading for the bed and pulling the covers back. 

Damon’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Why not? I went behind your back. Freed Stefan. And you know what? It backfired. He's an even bigger dick than ever...just now, he's a dick that's on our side.” 

“I'm not mad. I'm tired. I just...I want to go to bed,” she told him as she tugged on the blankets to get him to move.

Damon ignored her and didn’t budge as he said thoughtfully, “You know, I think Mikael's weapon is a stake, 'cause he mentioned something about it...”

Elena huffed when she realized he wasn’t moving and threw the blankets back, half covering him so she could get into bed anyway as she said, “Well, they must have carved it from the white oak tree before they burned it down.” She pulled the blankets back over her. 

Damon smirked. “So I was right. After all that, the wall lead us to Mikael.”

Elena sighed. “Lead us to more than just that. I think I got Rebekah on our side, too,” she explained.

Damon raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Really? What 'd you learn from her?”

“I learned, that she's just a girl. That she lost her mom too young, and she loves blindly and recklessly, even if it consumes her,” she said softly turning to look at him and getting lost in his eyes for a minute before shaking herself out of it and rolling to her side to face him. “But when all is said and done, there's nothing more important than the bond of family.”

Damon rolled to face her too, making sure to keep an appropriate amount of distance between them, as much as it killed him to do so. “Well, you should tell that to my brother.”

“I'm not mad at you for letting him out, Damon,” she said softly. “I think that you're gonna be the one to save him from himself. It won't be because he loves me.” She felt her eyes drooping but needed to finish this much. “It'll be because he loves you. Can I tell you the rest tomorrow?” 

Damon nodded and smiled softly. “Sure,” he whispered. As her eyes closed he managed to resist the urge to reach out and touch her, or worse, kiss her, but he couldn’t help but gaze at her for a little while before he forced himself to leave. 

The plan with Mikael was complicated, but the first part went off without a hitch, which led to the preparations for the second part. Elena found herself in Damon’s room again as he worked on the wolfsbane grenades. “We can't trust Rebekah not to turn on us,” she realized. 

“Oh really? Cause these Original vampires are usually so reliable,” Damon rolled his eyes. If she thought he didn’t already know that then she was crazy. 

“Bonnie was right. Rebekah may be mad at Klaus now but - he is her brother,” Elena pointed out. 

“Her lying, mama- killing, dagger- happy brother,” Damon replied, more to get a dig at Klaus than to argue obviously. “Wolfsbane is ready.”

“There are too many things that can go wrong with this plan. Too many people that can make it go wrong,” Elena continued worrying. 

“Well, I am formulating a secret contingency plan,” he assured her, hoping that would make her chill out. Her nerves were getting his acting up too. 

“Really? What is it?” Elena asked hopefully.

“Well, if I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret,” Damon smirked as Stefan came in.

“I need to borrow a tie,” Stefan said, not seeming to have the slightest case of the nerves.

“You have your own ties,” Damon said, not taking his attention away from what he was doing.

“I'm a hundred and sixty two years old and I'm going to a Homecoming Dance. I need better ties.”

“You could not go,” Elena said hopefully. 

“I'm compelled to protect you. And if I look at your track record at high school dances - it's pretty tragic. With my luck you'll go and get yourself murdered by the Homecoming Queen...” he mocked her before heading out. 

Elena reached over to pick up one of the wolfsbane grenades and Damon smacked her hand and went to take it away. “I know how to do it! Alaric taught me!” she protested.

Damon pulled it out of her hand as gently as he could as he said, “Elena. If this thing blows up in our face- just remember…only one of us heals quickly.” He wasn’t taking any chances with her safety. Especially not now when they were both already on edge. 

“Please tell me that you have a better plan than wolfsbane grenades?” Stefan asked incredulously as he came back in. 

“Never you mind, brother. The less you know the better.”

Stefan gave him a wry look. “My freedom from Klaus rests entirely upon you two executing your plan perfectly. So, excuse me if I'm a bit cynical.”

“You’re the one that we should be worried about. If Klaus asks you one wrong question the whole thing falls apart,” Elena pointed out, working side by side with Damon on the grenades. 

Stefan couldn’t argue with that. “You do have reason to worry, but if I look back in our history of epic plan failures, it's usually because one of us let our humanity get in the way. Upon taking odds on how this thing goes down, it's certainly not gonna be me who screws it up,” Stefan smirked as he started to leave. “I'll see you at Homecoming. I can't wait.”


	3. Chapter 3

Once they were done with the grenades, both unable to keep from thinking about how well they worked together, Elena went to carry out her next mission. There was no way Damon would be able to get close enough to Rebekah to dagger her, so it fell to Elena. Damon was right there as soon as it was done though, covering her up with a blanket. “In the back…harsh,” Damon teased trying to lighten the mood. 

“It had to be done,” Elena told herself as much as Damon. “Rebekah was never gonna be completely on our side.”

“Hey I’m not judging you,” Damon assured her. Even if he wanted to, he had no right to judge anyone. “It was very…Katherine of you,” he joked. 

“Not the way to make me feel better about myself, Damon,” she said irritated. 

“It was a compliment,” Damon said testily. Sue him for trying to cut the tension in here a bit. “Sort of.”

“Stefan was right. Someone’s gonna let their humanity get in the way and screw this whole thing up,” she said nervously. “And it’s probably gonna be me.” She was feeling horrible about getting Rebekah out of the way already. That didn’t bode well for the rest of the plan. 

Damon got up and went over to her. “Elena. You just daggered somebody. You’re gonna be fine,” he assured her as he sat next to her on the bed. 

“Yeah, but I feel bad about it,” she pointed out. “I care too much. That’s a problem, Damon.” She sighed and looked over at Rebekah’s body. “I’m the weak link.”

“If it makes you feel any better, she’s not really dead,” Damon wasn’t sure what else to say to that. 

“Do you trust him?” Elena asked. “Mikael?” 

“Nope,” Damon said without hesitation. 

“What about Stefan?”

“Nope,” he said again. “Not as long as he’s under Klaus’ control.”

“Then we need a better plan,” Elena said worriedly, fully trusting Damon’s judgement. 

“I know what to do,” Damon said seriously, turning to look at her. “You’re just not gonna like it.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because when all this goes down, I don’t want you having any part of it,” he told her firmly. Keeping her safe was the most important part of the plan in his eyes. 

“What does that mean?” she asked confused. 

“Do you trust me?” Damon asked hopefully. 

“Yes,” Elena answered immediately. 

Damon smiled brightly at that. “Then you have nothing to worry about.” 

Once they were alone in the house, Damon explained the plan. Learning that she was going to be left behind didn’t sit well with her, but she had to admit that it was a good plan. She was more than a little impressed that Damon had come up with it. He’d always seemed like the rush in recklessly type. She knew that he was smarter than he let on, but she loved when he showed it. It just drew her to him even more and it was getting harder and harder to fight it. She was so glad that it was almost over. That Klaus would be dying tonight and Stefan would be free. And so would she. Free to follow her heart. 

When Damon got home, she could immediately see in his eyes that something had gone very wrong. When he told her that it failed, she was as upset as he was. For a lot of reasons. “How did this happen?!” 

“We thought of everything, Elena,” Damon snapped as he paced. “Klaus having hybrids, Mikael turning on us, we even brought in Katherine so you weren’t in danger…anything that could have gone wrong, we were prepared!” he tossed back his drink. 

“I don’t understand,” Elena said desperately. “Stefan wanted Klaus dead. More than anything. That’s what we were counting on.” 

Damon refilled his drink as hopelessness overwhelmed his anger for a moment. “We blew it,” he breathed out. 

“Where’s Katherine?” Elena suddenly realized.

That brought Damon’s anger back to the forefront. “She ran for the hills. Like usual. The minute things got bad. And who blames her? Klaus would have crushed her.” He stalked around the room, ending in front of Elena. “I had him, Elena. I /had/ Klaus,” he assured her emphatically. This wasn’t his fault. And now he’d lost everything. His brother, her, maybe even his life if Klaus decided to come after him for this. “This could have all been over!” His temper snapped and he spun, throwing the almost empty bottle into the fireplace with a crash.

“Hey!” Elena said moving towards him. “Damon, hey,” she grabbed his arm. Damon jerked his arm away from her. He couldn’t stand this. Couldn’t stand for her to touch him. Not now. “Hey, listen to me,” she said firmly, grabbing him again and spinning him around, placing her hands on the sides of his face. This time he let her and her eyes met his. “We’ll survive this,” she said seriously. “We always survive.” Her hands caressed his face as Damon felt his heart breaking. “Trust me.”

“We’re never getting Stefan back,” he said heartbrokenly. “You know that, don’t you?” 

Elena felt her heart fall before she made a decision. One that she would probably always regret, but not more than she would regret the alternative. This was killing them. She had gotten her hopes up and now they were dashed and she couldn’t take it. She couldn’t go back now. “Then we’ll let him go,” she said as confidently as she could, not letting Damon look away. “We’ll have to let him go.” 

Damon searched her eyes for any signs of doubt. He couldn’t stand giving up on his brother either, but he needed her. So badly. He felt like he would die if he had to spend one more day without her. He would never give up on his brother any more than she would, but they couldn’t keep denying themselves for it. He couldn’t stand it. He nodded slowly and just as he started to lean forward his phone rang and she stepped away. “Not interested in a play by play of our failure right now Katherine,” Damon snapped. 

Once he hung up he turned back to Elena and gave her a longing look and she stepped closer to him, sliding a hand up his chest, to his shoulder and then his neck, brushing her thumb along his cheek. He sighed and leaned his forehead against hers, just breathing her in for a moment. “Not tonight…” he whispered as much to himself as to her. “I can’t tonight.” It would seem too much like celebrating the loss of his brother. The failure of their plan. 

Elena nodded slightly. “I know,” she whispered back, tilting her head to place a lingering kiss on his cheek. “It’s not our time yet…but when it is, I’ll be here,” she said softly, echoing his words from before. They both needed some time to put this behind them. But at least they were just waiting on themselves now instead of something beyond their control. He gave her a sad smile and brushed a hand over her cheek before walking out. If he didn’t then he would end up throwing all caution to the wind and taking her to bed. Even if it was the worst possible way to start a relationship and would doom them in the end. 

The next few days were a nightmare. Being so close and knowing that there was nothing keeping them apart now even as they continued chasing Stefan. They both needed to prove that just because Elena wasn’t waiting for him anymore didn’t mean that they were giving up. It was the only way they could get past this and find a future together. They both had a little hope when they found out that Stefan had saved Klaus to save Damon. Just as Elena had predicted it had been his love for Damon that had brought him back. At least they thought so. It was hard to tell. 

They realized that they were wrong, at least somewhat, when Stefan kidnapped Elena and threatened to drive her off Wickery Bridge after forcing his blood down her throat. She was beyond hysterical by the time he stopped the car. She yelled at him as he tried to justify it and eventually started yelling back at her that he had to destroy Klaus. “And after everything…that’s what mattered? Destroying Klaus?” she sobbed as she turned to walk away. 

“Destroying Klaus is all I have left,” Stefan called after her. 

“You had me!” she cried as she turned back. Granted she meant her friendship, but he didn’t need to know that right now. 

Stefan shook his head. “I lost you the minute I left town with him. You just haven’t admitted it yet.” 

“Is that what you’re doing? Trying to make me hate you?” she asked brokenly. 

“I don’t really care what you think about me anymore, Elena,” he said emotionlessly as he headed back to the car and drove off. Leaving her there on the bridge in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. 

Elena fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around her stomach as she sobbed, but she managed to pull her phone out and call Damon. “Elena? What’s wrong? Where are you?” Damon asked worriedly, hearing her sobs. 

“Wickery Bridge,” she managed to get out. 

“I’m on my way. Hold on,” Damon said quickly.


	4. Chapter 4

Damon drove like a bat out of hell. More so than he usually did, stretching even his vampire reflexes to the limit. She hadn’t been able to tell him what was wrong and every worst case scenario possible played through his mind in the six and a half minutes it took him to get there. He skidded his car to a stop when he saw her kneeling in the road and was at her side in a split second. No slow human speed was good enough. He dropped to his knees in front of her and put his hands to her cheeks, making her look at him. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? I don’t smell any blood…” he was cut off by her jumping into his arms and crying on his shoulder. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her soothingly. “Hey, shh. It’s okay. I’m here now. I’ve got you,” he said gently, running a hand through her hair. 

They knelt there in the middle of the road for a long time until she managed to calm down, but she didn’t pull away from him. “I’m sorry,” she sniffled. 

“Nope. No sorries allowed,” he said lightly, still running a hand through her hair. “But I wouldn’t mind knowing what happened.” She nodded, face still buried in his neck as she explained. The blood, the threats, the conversation, the fear. “I’ll kill him,” Damon said simply. “Brother or not I’ll kill him.” 

“No you won’t,” Elena said, holding him tighter. No matter how pissed he was at Stefan, he was still his brother and Damon could never kill him. 

“Well I should,” Damon said hatefully. Hating himself as much as Stefan right now. 

“No, you shouldn’t,” she said with an almost laugh as she finally pulled back to look at him. 

“You gonna be okay?” he asked worriedly, reaching a hand to her face, searching for the truth in her eyes. She nodded slowly, not breaking the eye contact. He leaned forward slowly, giving her a chance to stop him, but she didn’t and when their lips met it was slow and sweet and everything either of them could have dreamed. When it ended, he rested his forehead against hers and whispered, “Okay?” hopefully, not really able to get more words out than that. 

She answered him, not with words, but by tilting her head forward and kissing him again, just as slow and sweet as the first time. “Thank you, Damon,” she whispered when it ended. 

“For what?” he asked with a lop-sided smile, desperately hoping that wasn’t just a thank you, but willing to keep waiting for her if it was. 

“For everything,” she told him. “For being here for me always. For…for loving me, even when I don’t make it easy…”

He stopped her with a quick kiss. “Loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.” 

“For me too,” she said with a smile. “I love you, Damon,” she whispered. “And I don’t want to wait anymore to tell you that. I want our time to be now, Damon. More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

Damon pulled her in for a tight hug, burying his face in her hair. “Then it is,” he whispered. “I love you too, Elena. Always.” They sat there like that for another minute before Damon pulled back and reached out to wipe her tears. “Come on. Let’s get you home. We can figure everything else out tomorrow, okay?” 

“Tomorrow,” she nodded with a sniffle. 

He kept his arm firmly around her as they walked across the bridge to his car, wondering if she would ever be comfortable on this bridge again. He drove her home and walked her to the door, reaching a hand to her cheek again. “You sure you’re gonna be okay?” When she nodded, he leaned down for one more long kiss. “If you need me…”

“I’ll call you,” she promised. And she knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to come. He never did. “Goodnight, Damon.”

“Goodnight, Elena,” he whispered with a smile before turning to leave. 

The next morning, she was just finishing her breakfast when there was a knock at the door. She opened it to find Stefan. “What do you want?” she asked nervously. 

“To apologize,” Stefan told her. “What I did with the bridge and everything…it was too far. I’m sorry.” Elena sighed and opened the door the rest of the way, letting him in. “I know it’s probably too late for us, but…”

“It is too late, Stefan,” she cut him off, not wanting to hear what else he would have said. 

“Okay. I get it. I thought so, even before that. I mean…I know that you and Damon got close while I was…you know.” 

“Yeah. We did. And I never meant to fall in love with him, but I did. I especially never meant to hurt you, Stefan,” she said regretfully. 

“I know. And I never wanted to hurt you either. What do you say we call it all even and start over?” he suggested hopefully. 

“I’d like that,” she said with a grateful smile. 

Stefan pulled her into a warm hug. “I hope you two are happy together,” he said sincerely. 

“Thank you, Stefan. And you’ll find your own happiness too,” she assured him. 

“I hope so,” he said sadly before he let her go and headed home. He still had more apologies to make. 

“Stefan!” Damon said when he came in. “Are you back again?” he asked narrowing his eyes scrutinizingly at his brother. 

“Yeah. Assuming I’m welcome,” Stefan asked hopefully. “I’m sorry, Damon.”

“I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” Damon said crossing his arms.

“I know. I apologized to Elena already,” Stefan told him. 

“And she forgave you?” Damon asked curiously. 

“Mostly. We’re friends again at least. And you should know I don’t blame you.” 

“For what?” Damon asked, wondering what all she told him. 

“For loving her. For her loving you. I’m the one who walked away and practically pushed her into your arms. I have no intention of trying to stand in your way,” Stefan explained. 

Damon let out a relieved breath. He hadn’t realized how many doubts he was still harboring until now. Knowing that she had told Stefan actually made it real. “Okay then. Just one more thing,” Damon said taking a few steps towards his brother and punching him out. As Stefan slowly picked himself up off the floor, Damon said, “That’s for the bridge. And now we’re good.” He reached out a hand to help Stefan up and Stefan took it with a nod.


End file.
